him not as in a pompous and splendid but in an humble and afflicted Condition Though mean as a Bit of Bread and Sip of Wine may seem yet very apposite it is that our Spiritual Food by which we are nourished up unto Eternal Life should be conveighed to us in That which gives Nourishment unto and supports our Temporal Life in this World. So that all those Precepts which in their observance have an immediate Relation unto Gods Service are such as are Intrinsically Good or else such as may be ranked with those that are for the admirable Ends which 't is plainly shew'd they are ordain'd unto And further yet Theophilus Those Precepts which throughout our whole Conversation look towards God are such as are worthy to be practised by understanding Creatures towards the most perfect of Beings And it would not be just to conceive a God in the World who hath deserved infinitely well of Man and not conceive such obedience to be due unto him Such is the Believing and Trusting in him the submitting our Wills unto his and the Doing all things to his Glory and such like For by these He is own'd to be a God of Truth and Wisdom a God of Power and Goodness and to be All in all the Great and Holy One. And surely Those Laws cannot but be in themselves truly Good which so fashion the Hearts of Men that they appositely shall answer to those perfections which are in God and thereby as far as Man's Nature is capable become partakers of them And how genuine a pleasure is it for a Soul thus to believe in Him who cannot be Deceived himself and who will not Deceive us Who hath Revealed Truths which have been hid from Ages Truths that include the greatest Wonder and also the greatest Love And were it not a Command that so we should do what would we be more Solicitous for or what more seek after than the Priviledge of Reposing Trust in one who never faileth those that with a Christian confidence rely upon him When we are as of ourselves unable to see those things which shall be for our good and very forward to look to those things that will be for our hurt it sure is a Righteous Command that requires our Wills to be Subordinate unto His whose perfection it is to will only those things which are best And since the designs of Men so often create them trouble and nothing that here they enjoy can give them true satisfaction what can be a more noble End to all the Actions of Men than that which is the End the Almighty proposeth unto himself and which gives him Eternal delight in the obtaining it viz. His Glory If as all our powers and faculties proceed from him we shall in all things improve them unto him there will be no cause for us to complain that they are lost to Ourselves by being found in Him. But we shall be filled with that Glory which we do so Administer unto And lest the Goodness which these Laws have in them should be injured by an undue Practice they are to be obey'd in Righteousness and no otherwise Gods Glory is to be our continual Aim but we must not go about to promote it by a Lye or any thing that is Evil. The keeping of our Souls is to be committed unto God but it must be in Well-doing And the like is there for all others Laws which both sheweth and establisheth their Goodness Neither are those Laws which more nearly respect Men of a different Make from the other we by these are enjoyn'd the Exercise of Righteousness Mercy and Kindness And what would a Man wish should by others be Practised to himself and his Friend dear as himself sooner than these These do not from any thing we possess wring out the Tears of the Orphans and Widow No Stone is there to cry out of the Wall nor Beam to answer it out of the Timber We by them are taught to rejoyce at the Welfare of others as if it were the Fruit of our Prayers To esteem the Blessings which we ourselves do enjoy to be the greater because thereby we are enabled to do the more good By them also a True Relish is preserved in our Meats and Drinks and they are made to hold out Health and Long Life unto us by freeing us from those Surfeits and Excesses which would turn the most pleasant and wholsom things nto Bitterness and Poison In a Word these Laws how many or of what sort soever they be are such as perfect our Natures and capacitate us for a better World when this is done For a Man without the Practice of these would be altogether as far from reaching to the Glory of a Saint as a Beast is from being improved into the Excellencies of a Man. And Theophilus thay which is not to be forgotten have nothing of dark Ceremony annexed to be observed with the same Care as we do the substance of the Duties themselves Wherefore upon these accounts also we have very great Inducements to Love the Divine Laws Theoph I can easily grant that from the Intrinsick Goodness of these Laws there is a very strong inducement to Love them But is it Eubulus so great an one that these Laws which have an Intrinsick Goodness should Alone be enjoyn'd I therefore ask this because I remember you said that the sitting some inferiour Laws to the Temper of the Jewish Nation did the better fit that People for the observance of those Laws which were in their own Nature Moral Eubul It is a very great Inducement to our Love that those Laws alone should be enjoyned which have an Intrinsick Goodness in them For now as our whole Duty is reasonable so we have it in a little room and may the better understand and do it which would not so well be done by reason of the vast Number of Laws if all People wheresoever scatter'd should have had some suted to their Dispositions which are so Various The giving of the Christian Laws and of the Mosaick was very different Those by Moses were only or chiefly to the Jews God having then his Tabernacle in Salem and his dwelling place in Sion and among Them alone of all the Inhabitants of the Earth He chose to place his Name And over and above as he was their God so as was before said at the giving of these Laws he was their Temporal Prince And therefore the Nation being one People he might the better sute some Laws to their Temper Which in much Wisdom he did in the Judicial Law apparently and not less in the Ceremonial making That which did so much Typifie the future Kingdom of the Messias to hit also the Constitution of their Climate which enclined them much to a Variety of Rites and a Ceremonious way of Worship Yet not so did God sute his Laws to their Tempers as in every thing to Close with them But he in a manner did cultivate that People keeping
Disease but now mentioned it may seem he was For it is hard to give any other Reason why a Person whose Flesh is cover'd all over with the Leprosie should be pronounced clean and another who had any raw or live-flesh not overspread with it should be unclean Levit. 13.12 unless it were that the power of infection had ceased in the former and did continue in the later I doubt not Theophilus but our Psalmist and holy Men under Moses saw more things belonging to these Laws than any now adays are able to instance in But these may take off the force of what you urged against them as to their want of Reasons and in that respect as to their want of Excellencies Theoph. I willingly yield what indeed I cannot deny to these Laws And desire you will deal by my last Objection as you have done by the foregoing ones Eubul If I forget not it was this That the Precepts which require Fear are such as are enforced upon the account tbat God is Terrible and where so great Terribleness is at the bottom of these Laws the Love to them must needs be the Iess For perfect Love casteth out Fear I must confess that God in the Old Testament did often manifest himself in such a manner as might throw a Terrour into Men And even at the giving of the Law in Mount Sinai there were Thundrings and Lightnings and the Noise of the Trumpet and the Mountain smoaking All which might strike a Terrour and did strike so great an one into the People that they desired Moses to speak unto them and they would hear but should God speak unto them they should die But though this were so yet we may truly say That God chose this way by reason of the inflexible Nature of the People whom more mild and gentle Methods would not so well have prevail'd upon How often in Scripture are they called A stiff-necked People And therefore they were to be trained under the Law as under a School-master not being as yet fit for the highest things but as it were in the lowest Form. Their Duty of Fearing God they are to be excited unto by Means that represented God Terrible or they would not have feared him at all Hereupon those that knew the great Love of God to his People who rather than He would lose Them or They should cast Him off would use the more severe Methods for the keeping them in their Duty and the fitting them for his Favour might well love the Law that enjoyn'd the Fearing of God and the way also that enforced it But yet the Methods which struck such Terrour God was pleased to use only upon some special Occasions and he often if not always intermixed with them Means which were more gentle that this Fear might not be the Fear of a Slave or Captive to his Tyrant but of a Subject to his Prince who looks after those under him with Care and Love though he sometimes injects a Dread into them by his Majesty And this is very remarkable even in the giving of the Law when as we said God manifested his Terrours The Preface to the Decalogue remembers the Israelites of his great Kindnesses to them I am the Lord that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage And in the Second Commandment his visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of those that hate him is abundantly out-weigh'd by his shewing Mercy unto thousands in them that love him and keep his Commandments Some indeed there have been who have not approved of any Prologue to be put before Laws or any persuasives to be mingled with them it being the part of a Lawgiver by Authority to Command and not by arguments to persuade But though God hath more Power than all other Lawgivers and hath a Will infinitely more perfect than theirs and consequently might give his Laws in the most peremptory manner yet he was pleased to make way for them into the Hearts of his People by Love as well as Fear that as the careless might be affrighted so the more ingenuous might be allured and none kept back from Obedience either by presumption or discouragement I might instance in many places of Scripture pertinent hereunto but I will do it only in two where God is said to be Terrible The former is in Deut. 10.17 18. The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a Mighty and Terrible God But then the very next words are He doth execute the Judgment of the Fatherless and the Widow and loveth the Stranger in giving him Food and Raiment The other place is in Nehemiah Chap. 1.5 O Lord of Heaven the great and TERRIBLE God that keepeth COVENANT and MERCY to them that Love him and observe his Commandments How is his Terribleness here mitigated yea set off and made Lovely by his Goodness and Mercy And what better Comment can we give of these Scriptures and many others not unlike them than that of David Psal 130.4 There is Mercy with Thee that thou mayest be Feared Though there hath been a Strong Wind that rent the Mountains and brake in pieces the Rocks though an Earthquake there were and after that a Fire yet God was not so much in any of these or at least delighted not so much to be in these as in the still small Voice And this I think may be sufficient for your Objection and also for the Laws which require Duties to God as a Prince and Lawgiver Better Laws and better grounds for their observance could not be wish'd and so they might well be Loved Theoph. Pray Eubulus proceed to those Laws which require Duties from Men one to another Which I well remember you would have to be considered in the next place to those Laws which respected the Duties to God immediately Eubul For the wellfare of Society a Rational Man would desire that there should be Honour and Respect shew'd unto Superiours by those that are below them and that there should not be oppression and ill nature towards Inferiours from those that are above them but that Righteousness and Kindness should be exercised unto all Now these excellent things are all strictly enjoyn'd by Gods Law. The Duty of Honour and Respect to Superiours the Fifth Command sufficiently requires Honour thy Father and thy Mother i. e. all those who being in Place or Authority above thee are in a larger Sense Fathers and Mothers And since Authority and Dignity were first seated in and did arise from that which was Paternal I suppose that therefore Father and Mother are put for all Superiours And under the Word Honour are comprised all those Duties which in any Circumstances are in right Reason to be shewn from meaner Persons to those that are above them which Circumstances may upon occasion be better conceived than here at the present discoursed of For Superiours not oppressing those who are Infeferiour
they have the Laws of Christ for their Rule and Warrant They can of themselves lay no Obligation upon us The Holy Men we read of in Scripture were not sent into the World to be a Rule to all Others in the Things they acted The Vncertainty of Examples very great Their Insufficiency None of the Actions of our Blessed Lord from his Example merely and without a Law did lay any Obligation upon us to Imitate them The Laws of Christ reach to all Moral Actions No Examples of Goodness beyond what is included in those Laws Inferences concerning the Examples in Holy Writ In those things where the Law of God is Silent Prudence is to be our Guide Examples though of themselves they lay no Obligation upon us are yet of use Those which bear the Image of the Laws of Christ are given us for Incentives and Encouragements of our Obedience When Divine Laws are question'd as to their Sense Examples upon occasion may be Interpretations of them By Examples we may be instructed to do our Duties in a decent and becoming way Decency added unto Sincerity may make its reward the greater Examples are Registred in Holy Scripture for the Honour of those whose they were Our Condition the more sure than it would have been if we had had none in whose Steps we might tread By comparing Examples with our Rule we shall quickly find whether they will hold Good for our Practice or no. P. 175. The Contents of the Seventh Discourse COncerning the Divine Law as taken in a larger Sense Of the Historical part of Scripture particularly of the Creation All other Opinions concerning the Being of the World are cold and unaffecting Of the Fall of Man. It gives Light to many things which otherwise we should never have known the reason of The sad effects of our Fall are in great measure corrected by God's Mercy and made Comfortable to us Many things in the dark and mingled with falsities in profane Authors we may from hence more clearly discern Sacred History shews forth God's immediate Hand and plainly tells us that he punished and rewarded for such and such reasons Of the History of our Redemption How wonderful it is and what a Sacredness runs through all the Circumstances of our Lord's Conception Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension The great evidence of these things Of the Prophetical part of Scripture Especially of those Prophecies relating to our Blessed Saviour As Divine Truth is eminently seen in all of them so the quick and various workings of Providence for the fulfilling of some of them are very delightful The Predictions of the Heathen Oracles much different from these The Sibylline Prophecies of suspected Credit Of the Adhortative part of Holy Writ God hath used the most Taking words for the prevailing with Men for Obedience In the Gospel there is nothing wanting that may work upon the Soul of Man. Of the Devotional part of Sacred Scripture It consisteth of such Services as were fit for Men to pay unto their God and needed not Secresie to shelter them from an Honest Ear or Chast Eye Devotion raised to a much greater perfection by having our Lord and the Holy Spirit so nearly concerned in it Those persons quite mistake what they read in Sacred Scripture who find a pleasure therein without any respect to the Divine Law properly as such What we are to think of those who are conscientiously Obedient to the Divine Law but yet find not that Delight therein which Earthly things do frequently give them and who hereupon are very apt to interpret their Love to God's Precepts to be unsincere and such as will be rejected The great reasonableness and Benefit of Holy Meditation P. 210. The Contents of the Eighth Discourse DIsobedience is a Pollution It brings Disorder into a Man. It tends to make the Almighty to minister to his Creatures in the vilest Offices How God cannot be made to serve How he may He is pleas'd in Holy Writ to speak after the manner of Men that so He may condescend to our Vnderstandings and excite our Affections How He is made to serve in His Holy Name How in His Works The Creation sensible of this Slavery and God very much displeas'd with it Disobedience of an Extensive Nature It affects a kind of Eternity It 's highly Disingenuous God necessitates none to Disobedience Why He will not force Men into Obedience Why he generally cuts them not off P. 257. The Contents of the Ninth Discourse THe Plea of those is vain who say they never sinned maliciously against the Almighty nor wish'd his Greatness and Power to be less The Difference betwixt Rebellion against God and that against a Temporal Prince Disobedience a defilement in whomsoever it is Not the same Pollution in all Sins What the Sins of Good Men are and how known to be theirs The Sins of wicked Men of a deep Dye wherein they differ from those of pious Men. The Difference between wicked Men How of the worst sort some are more open some more secret in their Sins How the Sins of the less evil sort are to be measur'd The same fairness of Converse not equally innocent unto many A Sin may be a pardonable one to some when the very same to the Eye and Opinion of Men will not be so to others What we are to think of the Heinous Sins of Good Men Registred in Holy Scripture No reason from them for wicked Men to think better of their own Sins God will not esteem the Sins of his Children which are in themselves as great as and the same with the Sins of other Men to be therefore the less because they are committed by those who are his Children How to make a Judgment of our own Sins P. 288. ERRAT Pag. 282. lin 21. read them for him THE TRUE NATURE OF THE Divine-Law AND OF DISOBEDIENCE thereunto c. The Contents THE Occasion of the Discourse What is to be understood by the Divine Law. The Difference between the Law of Old and That which was given afterwards The Laws which enjoyn'd Duties towards God were such as we would in Right Reason wish should be towards a Prince and Lawgiver Concerning some Laws which might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather And others which seemed to proceed from the Will of God meerly as Supream without any Reason and consequently without any Love to his Creatures Of the Precepts which require Fear and are enforced upon the account that God is Terrible How these can consist with Love which casteth out Fear The Laws which a Rational Man would desire for the Welfare of Society are those which are enjoyn'd by God. Such likewise are those that respect ourselves Why the Law is called The Ministration of Death by St. Paul. What he meaneth when he saith He was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and he died And how the Mosaick Law is termed A Yoke which
neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear DISCOURSE the First THEOPHILVS I Have often thought Eubulus that one of the greatest Pleasures of a Mans Life is to be found there where Two Faithful Friends enjoy one another in Ingenuous and Profitable Discourses Communicating what they find to have been most taking with themselves and by united Thoughts and Searches discussing some Truths which otherwise would not so well have been known EVBVLVS I Suppose there are none whose Souls are any whit refined but will readily assent to what you say Theophilus And I am persuaded that though his Expression be very high he yet spake with a true Sense of Discursive Friendship who said Cum una mehercule Ambulatiuncula atque uno Sermone nostro omnes fructus Provinciae non confero Cic. I prefer one Walk and one Discourse of ours before all the Honour and Income of my Province Theoph. What relish Honours and Incomes have with others I know not and am little solicitous to know But sure I am I seem to myself not to want them while I have what I speak of which I see is no less esteem'd by You also Eubul The Converse of a Faithful Friend is never otherwise than pleasant to me But then I judge it most to be valued when by his Words I am made not only the more knowing but the better Having a sacred kind of Warmth raised within me by which I am more enabled to DO those Duties which are incumbent on me and to SVFFER those Evils which are so frequent in the World and which I must not expect to be altogether freed from Theoph. I thank you for what you now say because if I shall ask some such Discourses from you which I from the first have designed to do you cannot deny me And I should account it a great Pleasure hereafter when I possibly shall walk these Fields alone to remember that under this Tree I learned such Knowledge under that was instructed in such a Virtue Here I discerned how little these outward Things are to be trusted in There how reasonable it is to submit to the Divine Will and in every place that I both had and rightly made use of an Understanding and True Friend Eubul You may be confident I will not deny you any thing which shall tend to the promoting of such an Innocent and Virtuous Pleasure And I the rather shall yield to you in what you desire because I am sure it will be mine own more than your Advantage Having sufficiently experienced that many things well spoken by others have been Hints to you of deeper Enquiries and more grateful Discourses Theoph. If you have any such Opinion of my Freeness which I am endebted to my Friend if he will kindly accept of I will promise that you shall not complain as if it were less to you than to others And for a Proof hereof I will take the boldness to propose the Matter to be discoursed of Which unless you shall think otherwise shall be concerning The True Nature of the Divine Laws which as I conceive doth consist not meerly in the Excellence which they have in Themselves but in another Excellence also viz. That Loveliness if I may be allow'd to use the word which they carry in them in respect of us Eubul Your Conception of their Nature is no more than just and a better Subject you cannot find out Unto which I shall the more willingly speak what I can because if we may make a Judgment of those Laws from the usual Practice of Men either there is not the Loveliness you speak of in them or if there be as certainly in the highest manner there is it is very much slighted Theoph. 'T is too true that so it is And therefore I hope it will by Him who sees in secret be accounted as some Reverence and Respect shew'd unto them if when they are so little observed abroad we shall endeavour to search into their Perfections in private Especially since for this End we shall do it that our Love to them may be the greater And truly Eubulus the Royal Psalmist's Expression of so great Love to the Divine Law gave the Occasion of my now mentioning this Subject For reading those words O how I love thy Law It is my Meditation all the day methought I felt my Soul more than a little touched with them They seeming to proceed from a more than ordinary Affection in that good King. Eubul I do not wonder it was so with You who I know keep your Heart soft and tender and thereby fitted for right Impressions from the Holy Scriptures But your saying that those words seemed to proceed from a more than ordinary Affection doth not reach the thing home They not seemed only but really did come from an Heart full of Love to God's Laws And indeed Theophilus I think it no hard matter to discern a true Passion from one that is so only in shew This later will betray itself in somthing or other which by a Judicious Eye will easily be perceived While the other carrieth its Evidences along with it and without scruple is presently owned as genuine and sincere And surely no true Affection can be more convincingly express'd than this King 's was to the Divine Precepts His saying O how I love thy Law is to me no less than if he had said He could not declare how much he loved it His Love to it was greater than what his Words could arise unto It being only comprehensible to his Understanding and the inward Sentiments of his Soul yea almost too big for his Heart to contain Thus much yet he could say if that might any way shew forth the greatness of his Love God's Law was his Meditation all the day His Thoughts were continually taken up in it Theoph. If I had question'd the greatness of the Psalmist's Love unto it I assure you Eubulus I should not have been so much affected with his Words For according to that Rule Si vis me flere dolendum est Primum ipsi tibi A Passion would not over quickly be stirred up in me by him who I should think was himself insensible But that we may not mistake one another in our following Discourse it will be requisite to know what is here meant by the word Law it being capable of more than one Signification Pray therefore Eubulus let me have your sense of it Eubul By the Law of God I presume every one understands the Will of God which he in his Word hath declared But then because part only of that which we now acknowledge to be the Word of God was then written by the Law here is meant the Law given by Moses and that part of it especially which is Moral Although the Judicial for the Justice and Prudence of it and the Ceremonial for its Mysteriousness are not wholly to be excluded from the Law we speak of nor yet whatever else is contained in Holy Writ
in Mind of those great Sins against God which we daily must be forgiven And so should quicken us to do that to our Brethren which God in far greater measures through the Death of Christ doth unto us Whence supposing that there is Truth in Christs being our Saviour the loving of Enemies even while they persist to be injurious is not an unreasonable but an equitable thing And that Christs coming into the World to save us is a certain Truth we have the highest reason to believe But yet whereas they further say That the thus loving of Enemies doth take away that Honour and Courage which should belong to us as Men we reply That it contributes much to our Honour and Courage For he that forgives an Injury is always in the Act of forgiving Superiour unto him who is forgiven And in not permitting the Miscarriages of others to disorder his Passions he doth maintain a Greatness of Spirit which some others who are presently for Revenge and drawing of Swords are far short of Minuti semper infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Vltio is a true saying of the Satyrist It is the part of a mean Soul to be looking after Revenge and taking pleasure in it And that Honour which is so much talk'd of and most an end so much stood upon what is it usually but a Reputation among the vainer and most injudicious sort of Men And what pitifully mean Matters shall engage some in long and costly Law-Suits and others in the venturing their Lives upon the Account of this empty Reputation and Honour Let a Man shew himself to be such who can value an Ingenuous and Christian Carriage towards him and who can resent the contrary but yet will not permit any unworthiness of others to get the upper-hand of his Reason and Charity Let him manifest to all about him that he is a Lover of Men that he desires their good much more than he stomachs the wrongs they have done him That he is more inclinable if they will give him leave to shew Kindness to them than to act any thing of Revenge That he leaves all Revenge unto God whom it belongs unto and yet earnestly prays that God will not execute it Let him do all these things and he will gain more Honour with those that are the most understanding sober and good from whom alone Honour deserves to be termed so than the Man ever shall who rageth at every petty Injury and breathes nothing but Threatning and Revenge Yea and lastly instead of those new and greater Injuries which from such a behaviour towards Enemies are said to have a fairer way made to fall upon him there will be in all likelihood the quite contrary effect For who is he that will be forward to injure the Man who he sees is willing to be a Friend to all And if he hath injured him already when he considers he hath injured so much Goodness how will he cast as it were the first Stone at himself be troubled at his fault and endeavour to repair it by a Submissive and Relenting Carriage But if the Offendor be Stubborn and not so easily brought down yet the Offended Man's Christian and Charitable Deportment without interruption continued will surely at last melt him To this end is that Precept and the Reason of it Rom. 12.20 If thine Enemy Hunger Feed him if he Thirst give him Drink for in so doing thou shalt heap Coals of Fire upon his Head. It is a way of Speech alluding unto those who are Melters of Metals when a Metal is very hard they not only put Fire under it but heap Coals upon it and by this means though hard to be Melted it be yet at last it yields to the Fire So when to an Enemy though of an obstinate and most hardned Temper a Christian Love shall still be shewn and kindnesses upon good occasions be heaped upon his Head He must be harder than Iron or Brass who will not be sensible of them and suffer his Evil to be overcome with Good. Theoph. He would deserve that Those who are Enemies to him should for ever go on so to be and that others not his Enemies should very little esteem him who after such Considerations as these shall say That it is unreasonable to Love Enemies even while they are such Eubul But let us go to the Fourth thing which they object against these Laws viz. That they require the Macerating of the Body with Fasting and Abstinence which what is it but the making a Man Cruel to his own Flesh I freely acknowledge Theophilus That Fasting is a Christian Duty and that when our Lord saith when thou Fastest enter into thy Closet though it be not in the plain form of a Command Thou shalt Fast yet it is not hereby the less a Command And the reason is because our Saviour from the frequent Practice of Fasting and the great Credit which this Duty among the Jews was in did suppose it to be a Duty And by his Precepts for the right performance of it he may well be presum'd to enjoyn the thing And therefore in his Sermon he ranks it with Prayer and Alms Which Duties and I may say which Sermon too as to every part of it concern the Practice of Christians so long as the World stands But wherein Theophilus is it that the harshness of this Law of Fasting lies If our Bodies are apt as too apt they are from constant Feeding not to serve but to rebel against the better part of us our Souls is it so unreasonable a thing to withdraw for a time their wonted Nourishment that from them our Prayers and Praises may not be Drowsie And our better thoughts not Clogg'd Or if out of a Sense of our own Unworthiness we shall somtimes lay aside all our enjoyments refusing to Eat the Fat and Drink the Sweet that in the sight of God we may acknowledge ourselves less than the least of his Mercies which sure by reason of our continual Failings we too truly are what sober Man can condemn us for so doing Or lastly if we shall make a suitable Expression of Repentance for some Sins which have chiefly proceeded from the Body by exercising upon it an holy Revenge and denying it for a season the things which are pleasant They must be very unreasonable Men who will say That we do more than what is meet to be done The Religions even of the Heathens have not been without their Abstinences as their Votivae noctes do testifie and their Wise Men have addicted themselves thereunto Hence Lucilius is by Seneca exhorted to fare somtimes so hard Liberaliora ut sint alimenta Carceris That the Diet of a Prison should exceed his Nay Epicurus himself whom these Objectors against Christianity are so willing to have their Master had his certain days quibus malignè famem extingueret nec toto asse pasceretur Which things surely may teach These Men not to condemn our
more noble things than John was used to shall in this respect be greater than He and more honoured than Any that lived before him Theoph. How pleasant a Prospect are these things to a Christian And who could blame him if fixing his Thoughts upon them He should account all other things in the Apostle's words as dung and dross in comparison of them But pray Eubulus Since the Law is so good Assistances so great and Motives so taking how comes it to pass that there should be so many disobedient ones as we almost every where see there are Eubul Too many God knows there are and one reason that there are so many is the superficial Knowledge of these things and oftentimes a gross Ignorance Were the elder sort called to Catechism and some of those who fail not seeing the Church once a week I doubt we should find them though Men in Stature to be yet but Children in Understanding perfect it may be and it may be not in the words of the Creed and the Commandments but Strangers to the sense Theoph. But not a few who are well instructed in the Divine Laws are yet of Lives bad enough Eubul It is a truth what you say though a sad one to be told Yet while there is so much Natural Pravity in the Heart of Men and so many Temptations abroad it is not difficult to guess the reason For Christian Religion though it often-times overcomes our Natural Corruptions yet doth not wholly root them out and evil Inclinations will sway a great many from their Duty The Rewards which our Lawgiver promiseth are chiefly future and spiritual and Men such is their Earthliness are generally for those things that are present and can be seen And when those shall strongly solicit and make shews of great Profits or Pleasures or Honours it is no wonder that Multitudes are led away by them Add to this That the Proofs of Christianity are not such as will compel Mens assent unto them whether they will or no but are to be inculcated often upon their Hearts that they may there be firmly rooted Now this requires Pains and Industry and if many Men are for Sloth and Ease and do account the weighing and considering of things to be harder and more tedious than bodily Labour we may quickly discern wherefore it is that the Laws of our Lord are so little observed And truly the Actings of the Holy Ghost with Men which are not ordinarily according to the fulness of his Power but so as may be resisted are in the present case worthy our Consideration He by his Motions within us doth persuade and silently he proposeth our Welfare suggesting the true means of obtaining it and furnishing us with Strength and Aids from above if we will admit of and close with them but he doth not usually with an irresistible Power constrain us And hence are those Expressions in Holy Writ of quenching and resisting the Spirit which if he acted according to the greatness and extent of his Might could not be quenched nor resisted Now when Men are left to chuse what Paths they will take when they must come in as it were to the help of the Lord against their own Corruptions and those Pleasures of Sense which as the forbidden Apple did look fair and to be desired it may not seem strange that these are chosen and the Divine Precepts neglected Neither is Christian Religion to be faulted as if it did not provide means sufficient for the retaining Men in Obedience It provides so far as is consistent with their Virtue which brooks not Force and would be lost had it not the Will along with it And from what hath been said Theophilus you may guess how it comes to pass that though the Laws are so good Assistances so great and Motives so taking there yet are so many that continue in Disobedience But we must not make our Walk to be the Injury of our Health It is a moist Air and yonder Clouds look black upon us An happy Night therefore to my Theophilus DISCOURSE the Fifth The Contents THough the Generality of Men be Wicked and by occasion of these Laws being given shall suffer the greater Torments hereafter yet it would not thereupon have been better that these Laws should not have been given The impious folly of those Men who are willing to flatter themselves with God's being so much a God of Mercy as that he will not destroy them though they walk contrary to his Laws An Explication of I am the Light of the World. Why Miracles were confined to the first Ages of the Church That Prophecy made good viz. The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb c. The great Goodness of God in making these Laws to reach so wide as the whole World. His great Wisdom and Mercy in putting these his Laws into Writing and enjoyning the frequent Reading and Preaching of them The Reasonableness that these Laws should endure without Abrogation or Change so long as the World shall stand The great expectation which was of this our Lawgiver for so many Ages and in every respect his answering of it may prevail much for Mens Obedience to his Laws The Righteousness and Goodness of these Laws will manifest themselves to those who are sincerely Obedient THEOPHILVS THE last part Eubulus of your Yesterdays Discourse occasion'd a more than ordinary thoughtfulness in me The Lives of Christians I reflected upon and they almost every where appeared unto me little less than a contradiction to the Laws of Christ Where is not Piety towards God neglected Vnrighteousness and Deceit towards Men not carried on Enmity and Hatred not nourish'd Intemperance and Vnchastity not abounding And how rare are upright and faithful Persons to be found In the midst of these my Thoughts I was struck with those Words of the Apostle 2 Pet. 2.21 It had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment deliver'd unto them And the not walking according to the Laws of the Gospel however the Name of Christ be openly profess'd I look upon to be a Turning from the Holy Commandment And though I still acknowledg'd and for ever shall acknowledge the Divine Laws to be Holy and Good and the Blessing promised to them to be the highest expression of God's Love to Mankind yet at last I fell to think whether the Wickedness of the Generality of Men had not brought it to that pass that considering the greater Torments they shall hereafter suffer by occasion of these Laws being given and the Gospel's being Reveal'd it would not have been better that these Laws should not have been given and the Gospel not have heen Reveal'd unto Men. I will not justifie my Thought as if it were Innocent it seemed to me and still seems Irregular But for the time it was so lodg'd within me that I could not easily remove it EVBVLVS NEither will I commend
think and somtimes they may think right that in relation to the Commands of Masters and Governors they could do better than what they are enjoyn'd to do And yet notwithstanding they will yield Obedience as judging it but reasonable That not always what is best but what best pleaseth those who are in Power is to be done But better they cannot do than that which the Laws of our Lord require His Will never stands in Opposition to what is in itself really best because he is pleased with nothing but that which is holy just and good Which sure may create a very great Satisfaction in us whilst we submit to his Laws and may render those his Laws of very high account with us But yet for all this his Laws and Himself too are much disesteem'd and the mean regard which they generally find hath made me with sorrow to think upon those Words of Arrian's Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Men saith he have built Altars and Temples to Triptolemus who shew'd them the way of Agriculture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But to Him who finds out and gives Light to the Truth of Things directing Men not merely to preserve Life but to Live well and as Men ought to do Who of you all Dedicates a Temple to his Honour or so much as thanks God upon his Account All this cannot I confess be said with relation to our Lawgiver Temples are built unto him and Praises are offered unto God who sent him into the World. But are they not with a great many as an outward shew rather than the Expressions of inward Devotion and unfeigned Thankfulness While they obey not the Laws of Him whom they thus celebrate and to use our Lord 's own words do draw near unto him with their Lips when their Heart is far from him Most Men are willing to have our Lord their Priest to Attone for their Sins and for Novelty and Entertainment they can be content to have him their Prophet too But as a King and Lawgiver they care not for him and are backward to submit to his Scepter and Laws Yet surely his Scepter is a Righteous Scepter and his Commands not grievous but such as are fitted to Human Nature and its Interests in this World that the Man may seem unwilling to be Happy either here or hereafter who refuseth Obedience unto them It was a true word of the People concerning our Lord That never Man spake as he spake His Words were with Authority bringing a Convincingness along with them And shall Men now be deaf to them Frequently did our Saviour use that Exhortation shall I call it or Command or both He that hath Ears to hear let him hear As much as to say Of so great importance are the things I declare unto you that if ever a more than ordinary Attention was requisite now it is Well it were if it could not be said of Multitudes That there is a Price put into their Hands and they have no Heart to it Theoph. Let me add Eubulus that the great expectation which was of this our Lawgiver and his Laws may prevail much for Mens Obedience to them Towards Him the Faces of the Jews even from Moses's time and upwards were bent The coming of Shiloh was earnestly waited for And He after so many Propbecies made of him had the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Him that Cometh or the Coming King as is very frequently to be seen in the Evangelists And when the Ages past were so intent upon his Coming when there were so many Types and Predictions of him which under his Government betokened the greatest Happiness unto Men shall Men now He is come esteem meanly of Him and his Laws And this when to those who will impartially weigh and consider things He is not a jot less worthy than all the Expectations of a great People for many more than a thousand Years and those many Figures and Prophecies of him imported him to be Yea when He is excellent beyond the Conceptions of Men Angels themselves desiring with Reverence to look into these things When also All Men are no less concern'd in Him now than the Jews formerly were How ill will it look after all this if Men shall slight his Person and refuse Obedience to his Laws which if a Man observe he shall not only live in them but live happily to all Eternity Eubul Your Persuasive for Reverence and Honour to the Person of our Lawgiver and for Submission and Obedience to his Laws is very strong Yet methinks I would not more urge for an Observance of than for an hearty Love unto those his Laws Though truly where there is a faithful Observance there will be a true Love of them also Their Righteousness and Goodness will presently manifest themselves to those who are Conscionably Obedient And as our Lord saith Wisdom is justified of her Children so these Laws which may in reality be termed Wisdom as proceeding from Him who is Wisdom itself will justifie their own Excellencies to the Thoughts of those who observe them and by Them will be vindicated against all Gainsayers and Disobedient Ones I will end all with this Prayer That God by shedding abroad his Love into our Hearts would encrease our Love daily more and more to his Laws That we may cheerfully obey Him in this World and be everlasting rewarded by Him in the next DISCOURSE the Sixth The Contents NOt a few think themselves secure in their actings if they can shew that some good Men in Holy Writ or some well accounted of since have done the like Examples of Good Men to be imitated no further than they have the Laws of Christ for their Rule and Warrant They can of themselves lay no Obligation upon us The Holy Men we read of in Scripture were not sent into the World to be a Rule to all Others in the Things they acted The Vncertainty of Examples very great Their Insufficiency None of the Actions of our Blessed Lord from his Example merely and without a Law did lay any Obligation upon us to Imitate them The Laws of Christ reach to all Moral Actions No Examples of Goodness beyond what is included in those Laws Inferences concerning the Examples in Holy Writ In those things where the Law of God is Silent Prudence is to be our Guide Examples though of themselves they lay no Obligation upon us are yet of use Those which bear the Image of the Laws of Christ are given us for Incentives and Encouragements of our Obedience When Divine Laws are question'd as to their Sense Examples upon occasion may be Interpretations of them By Examples we may be instructed to do our Duties in a decent and becoming way Decency added unto Sincerity may make its reward the greater Examples are Registred in Holy Scripture for the Honour of those whose they were Our Condition the more sure than it would have been if we
Holiness he never approved of them And his Will in the Laws of his Son is and always will be highly dear unto him And therefore in all cases how little hopes of success soever there be and at all times how hazardous soever they may appear is to be stuck unto by us 4. Those Actions which under the Old Testament were altogether innocent are not all of them without scruple to be imitated by us who are Christians Such I suppose was Moses's slaying the Egyptian who strove with the Hebrew Man Exod. 2.12 Ehud's running his Dagger into Eglon Judges 3.22 Elijah's calling down Fire from Heaven for the consuming of the Captains and their Fifties 2 Kings 1.10 David's causing the Ammonites to be put under Saws and Harrows of Iron and to pass through the Brick-Kiln 2 Sam. 12.31 And his cursing his Enemies as in his Psalms we frequently hear him do In some of these Instances if not in all we are to look to an extraordinary Spirit yet not disagreeing to the Mosaick State impelling the Actors and therefore it is very unsafe to bring them to the common Rules of Life now under the Gospel It might justly be objected against a private Man that should go about to do as Moses did Who made thee a Ruler or a Judge over us And Ehud's Deed how little Warrant is it for Attempts of the like Nature We know whom our Lord checked for desiring they might do as Elias had done with these words Ye know not what Spirit ye are of The Son of Man came not to destroy but to save Luk. 9.54 And David's Carriage towards the Conquer'd Ammonites who will say it may to the worst of Enemies be imitated And his so frequent Execrations of his Enemies may they not be said to proceed from a Prophetick Spirit and to be Predictions wrapt up in the Form of a Curse But who now may pretend to such a Spirit And not having the same Spirit how may they presume to do the same thing Look we to the Rule under the Gospel and there we shall find the Precepts that are given us to be of a mild and soft temper and the Spirit that actuates those Precepts in our Souls to be gentle and sweet-natured Not unlike unto the Dove whose Resemblance he took when he descended in a Bodily Shape We are to Love our Enemies to Bless them that Curse us to do good to them that hate us And Servants and Inferiours are to be subject to their Masters and Superiours not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward It is not unworthy Observation that in the whole Gospel there are no Precepts that relate to the carrying on a War because if our Saviour's Laws be obey'd sincerely on all Hands there will be no occasion for Fighting Now where the State and Laws are New as under our Lord in great measure they are some things that were innocent and commendable under a former State may not be so unto us For these Laws are to last so long as the World standeth whereas the Laws that authorized some of those Examples even now spoken of were only Impulses of the Spirit for that time alone in which they were done Yea the Laws which were most properly belonging to the Mosaick Institution and endured the longest were in great measure but in order unto our Saviour's more perfect Institution which was to come and which is styled The Everlasting Gospel because its Laws shall never cease to bind us as was before observed 5. No Actions of Holy Men that express not the Substance of a Divine Law are necessarily to be imitated by us For if our Imitation of Examples in Sacred Writings be to have the Laws of Christ for its Rule and Guidance then those Examples which do not any way express those Laws although they be not contrary to them lay no Obligation upon us for our imitating them Hence that Posture which our Saviour and his Disciples were in at the first Institution of his Supper since it was not belonging to the Substance of the Command of their Consecrating Bread and Wine and Giving them and of others Receiving them at their Hand doth not oblige us There is none can understand any Posture from the Command Do this in Remembrance of me and there is no Command on purpose for any Posture to be observed Why then should there be so much Discord in the Church of Christ about it It were well we could not say Men more earnestly contend about an indifferent Circumstance of the Duty than they make Conscience of the Duty itself And from what hath been said Theophilus we may see how great and dangerous their Errour is who raise Examples so high as to make them together with the Laws of our Lord the Rule of our Actions when those Laws alone and of themselves are so Nothing say they is to be done but what is warranted by some Command or Example in Holy Writ Which what is it but a derogating from the Divine Law to add over-much unto Examples and to give some Men who have their Eyes too much set upon Examples an occasion therefrom to take oftentimes a greater Latitude than the Sacred Precepts will allow When the Law of God is silent as to any particular Action and doth not forbid it it is to be supposed we are left at liberty to do or not to do it Neither need we seek to an Example for our Warrant but our Prudence with respect only to that general Law Whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God is to be our Guide For those Examples which are not directly expressive of the Laws of God arose at first from the Prudence of the Agents and why may not We upon the same Grounds do the same Things Or why should an Example be of more Authority with us than that Prudence from which it sprung and which lieth in common to all Men for the ordering a great part of their Lives Certainly the wholly excluding the Dictates of Prudence where no Law of God layeth any prohibition upon us and the joyning of Examples together with the Divine Precepts without any mark of Difference as if they were of equal sway with them may be of pernicious Consequence to the Practice of Men and hath already been too too much instrumental unto the quarrelling with the wholsom Discipline and Constitutions of our Church and the disturbing of that Peace which ought to be more among Christians than others but which hath been less in the midst of them than it hath been even with Those who in the Psalmist's words are Strangers unto Peace Theoph. But if Examples lay no Obligation upon us any further than as they have the Laws of Christ for their Rule and Warrant pray Eubulus of what use are they And to what end have we any thing more in Holy Writ than the Laws thereof These of themselves engaging us to all the Duties that any Examples can point us
unto Eubul We may say with the Apostle in general That all the Examples in sacred Scripture yea even those that are bad as well as those that are more commendable for they were all ordered by the self-same Spirit to be set down there have their good uses and are profitable either for Doctrine or for Reproof or for Correction or for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be throughly furnished to every good work But more particularly we say 1. That those Examples which plainly bear the Image of the Laws of Christ are given us for Incentives and Encouragements of our Obedience to those Laws Though our Rule be perfect yet it will more prevail upon us when it brings an Example with it to shew that it hath been obeyed by others and may be by us We are apt to think that our Task is difficult and beyond our Strength In Mercy therefore and Love God hath been pleased to Register the Actions and Lives of some Men to shew us that what he requireth of us is not impossible to be done Why should we think it an hard thing to have Faith in God when Abraham hath believed in Him and taught that it is a Duty which may be performed by us Why should we esteem it unreasonable to be patient in Adversity when we Read of the Patience of Job in greater Evils than as yet we have suffered or are like to suffer We may Cheerfully set about the Duty of Mortification and Self-Denial from the knowledge of St. Paul's keeping under his Body and bringing it into Subjection But the Chief Example of all is our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ And God hath required his Obedience both Active and Passive not only that he thereby might Merit for us but also that he might Manifest the Reasonableness of his Laws and might Excite our Obedience by his own Example Who can justly refuse to be Meek and Lowly when He who Commands us to be so was so Himself though he were a King Who is it will deny to Love his Enemies when our Lord who enjoyns us thus to do did the same thing yea Loved Us ourselves when we were Enemies unto Him That we should not be Weary nor Faint in our Minds under the Troubles that may befal us for Religions Sake we are bid to consider Him who endured such contradiction of Sinners against himself and to look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the Shame And what greater Allurements can there be for our Obedience to his Laws than that He who made these Excellent Laws did himself Live according unto them and was in all respects such as he would have VS to be If his Commands move us not how can we withstand his Example Theoph. His Example is Strong But may not the Perfection thereof he being God as well as Man make us despair of ever reaching it rather than encourage us to endeavour towards it Eubul In case any should so think God hath afforded us Patterns amongst Those who have nothing but what is Human in their Natures and we are to be followers of Them as They have been of Christ Though truly Those Actions of our Lord which belong'd unto him chiefly as he was a Man such as were the Expressions of his Meekness Patience Self-Denial Affiance in God and such like we may imitate immediately from Himself and have no need that any should interpose betwixt Us and Him as an Example of the same things For who can Practise those Vertues and Graces in a manner more befitting our Imitation than He hath done He was made in the likeness of Men and was in all points Tempted even as we are so that we may exactly see our own Duty in his Behaviour Only He was without Sin and though we cannot while we are in this World attain unto the Perfection of being wholly free from Sin as He was yet it is but meet the Copy which is set us should be Exact and Accurate That thereby we might not rest in Low Degrees but might still be excited to rise higher Nay even those Actions of our Lord which proceeded more from his Divine than Human Nature are for the most part not so much out of our reach but they may yield us somthing for our Imitation And they were not Written barely as Narratives without any respect to our Practice They carried in them a Conformity to the Laws which he gave and we are excited to give Obedience to those his Laws in that while he acted most like God he had a respect unto Them and did then express the matter of Them as well as when he acted most like Man. In his Miraculous Actions there were the Piety the Kindness and the Compassion which he requires of us as Men mixed with his Power as he was God. And so far they are Incentives to our Duties We cannot indeed feed a Multitude by a Miracle but we can give Food to the Hungry according to our Abilities We cannot Heal the Sick by a Word but we can Administer to their Necessities We cannot make the Lame to Walk and the Blind to See but we can be Legs to the One and Eyes to the Other in our way by giving Support and Direction to them Unto this Goodness and Pity these Miraculous Actions of our Lord do prompt us and hence the Church of Christ though it could not reach the Miracle of our Lords Fast for Fourty Days yet thought itself bound to the Piety of it and as far as it well could to the Abstinence of it also So likewise his Actions which proceeded from his Prerogative as he was a Prince which I said we must not imitate have somthing that may admit of an Analogy betwixt our Actions and Them And may stir us up unto that Practice which we as Christians are bound unto Thus his Driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple and overturning the Tables of the Money-Changers encourageth us to be Zealously affected in a good Matter and to oppose every thing that is Evil so far as lieth in our Sphere Thus also his Mediatory Actions may be Excitements to us earnestly to interceed with God for the Eternal Welfare of Others in an Humble and Submissive way not forgetting our own Meanness while we do it and remembring also that what we do in this kind is no more than what is our Duty to do You see Theophilus that our Lords Example even in the Actions that are above the Ordinary Level as well as in those which chiefly represented his Human Nature is a Motive to Us for Obedience to his Laws I may further also say viz. That not only the Examples of some Holy Mens Actions in Sacred Writings which as to the whole were good but Those also which as to some things are short of the measure and below the Standard of Goodness are written for the stirring us up
These engage our Thoughts The being Happy you know is that which every one looketh after To this all Mens Aims and Endeavours are bent though in Paths much different one from another and for the most part at the greatest distance from what is sought And well may they be so since none of them reach beyond the Grave Not to mention those things which are of a grosser Nature relating to the Body and which Men vigourously contend for rising early and sitting up late view let us Theophilus those things which the more thinking sort of Men do persue Books and Learning I would not be thought to plead against you know I very much esteem and honour them But what is it generally that Men employ their Thoughts and Studies about Are they not better skill'd in one anothers Ignorance and Errors than in the knowledge and Truth of things And those Truths which with great pains and long searches they find out how mean are they if throughly consider'd They satisfie not the Man when he comes to Dye who would have somthing else than some Truth in History or some Demonstration in Mathematicks or some Rules of Policy to cheer him for they will stand him in no stead then Nay even those parts of Philosophy which tend chiefly to the beating down the Fears of Death how cold and insipid are they The best that any of the Heathen Moralists have spoken amounts only to this That the Souls surviving the Body was at the most but an Opinion and a thing which some of them rather wish'd should be than were sure that it was Equidem saepe emori si fieri posset vellem ut ea quae dicam liceret invenire Vtrum autem sit melius vivere an mori Dii immortales sciunt Hominum quidem scire arbitror neminem saith Socrates in Cic. one of the strongest Pleaders for the Souls Immortality I would were it possible for me often die if so I might at last find the things I speak of But whether it be better to live or die God alone knoweth I suppose no Man living can tell Small Satisfaction doth this give to a Man who to his earnest desires of having his Being continued hath at the highest such mean grounds for his hope Nor doth he find himself any more at ease from its being said That the Man who is dead in his having ceased to be is altogether devoid of Misery For if he perceiveth no Misery he is altogether as far from perceiving any thing of Pleasure And surely the falling from a place amongst Men into a Condition no better than that of a Stone or any other senseless thing may encline him who considers it unto pensiveness and sorrow And doth it make any jot more for his content to be told That he shall go the same way that all Men before him have gone and that all after him shall go Certainly it doth not For may it not rather encrease his Complaints in that not only all Men thus die but are also denied that length of Life which is granted to many other Creatures inferiour unto Men Fain would he when he comes to lie on his Death-Bed not wholly perish Earnestly he desires that his Soul may yet further live and find elsewhere that Happiness which in this World he sought in vain And might it be he would wish that his Body which he hath taken so much care of and which hath been instrumental to those Actions that commended both to God and Men should not have an utter end in the Grave Now all these things are by our Lawgiver affixed as Rewards to the Obedience of his Laws Rewards though vastly great yet not greater than the Excellences of those Laws are which and only which through God's Mercy can make the Man fit for so boundless an Happiness And when Life and Immortality are brought to Light and are as wish'd for by Men so throughly made known unto them in so much that they have not the Liberty now of thinking either way but are in Duty to believe these things so to be as being establish'd by such Arguments than which in Modesty and Reason greater cannot be desired how should they with earnestness be thought of And how the Laws betwixt which and them there is so close a Connexion be with a more than ordinary intentness contemplated Surely it is but meet it thus should be since a Mans chief Welfare deserves his setled and constant Thoughts and since through the infinite Mercy of our Lord to us in the Observance of those his Laws the least and most inconsiderable part of our Being and Happiness is in this World and that which shall be in the next is in Comparison of it no less than a whole Ocean to a single Drop And such Meditation Theophilus we the rather may exercise not only because if we did not know these things to be true nothing could be more desired by us than that they should be true but also because being even while Children instructed in them and never remembring the time that we were altogether ignorant of them we are apt thereupon to be the less affected with their Greatness and Excellence It is pity that the sense of these mighty Favours should lose any thing of its quickness by our long acquaintance with them which ought rather to heighten our esteem of and thankfulness for them A very great Imperfection in our Nature this is but may in good measure be cured and no better Method can we use for the doing it than frequent and devout Contemplations which will bring us to ourselves and give us a lively relish of the things which belong to our Everlasting Peace Theoph. They doubtless will be of very great avail And possibly this Consideration may be some persuasive for the daily use of them viz. That Thinking or Meditating is so proper to the Nature of Man that no Creature upon Earth may seem to have any share in it besides himself Some indeed have been forward enough to grant that other Creatures have somthing of Reason in them and a Power of Thinking such an one as it is But then to difference them from Men and to set them in a lower Rank they have allow'd to none but Men such a Rational Nature as is capable of Religion and such a Faculty of Thinking as can conceive what Righteousness Goodness and the higher sort of Truths are And therefore since Men alone of all Earthly Beings are endued with this Faculty we cannot but think that it is to be laid out and not lost by neglect Eubul And who is it that would leave a Power unexercised in which Man 's proper Excellence is so much seen and which affords him a pleasure befitting a Reasonable Soul In This when it is employ'd in Sacred things he finds a sweet retreat from the Cares and Toils of Life from the Enmities and Falsness of the World. And whatsoever Discomposure his Mind hath suffered by them he
can look no higher than to the obtaining somthing in this World if Praise or Profit or Pleasure be the Vltimate of their Endeavours and Aims if the Life and Immortality which by our Lord are brought to Light be little accounted of and not permitted to have any share in what they do their Sins have a Pollution beyond what Good Mens have I do not say that even Religious Men must necessarily with an Actual Intention in every the least Action have respect to Gods Glory and their own Eternal Welfare The Imperfection of their Nature the many Circumstances they may be in and the quickness which is requisite to many of their Actions will not permit this But an Habitual Intention for Gods Glory and their own Happiness after this Life is done is absolutely necessary And where this is wholly wanting where Temporal concerns are the only things that engage the Thoughts where the good Actions that they do are steered only by Earthly Inducements how little Discommendable yea or how much Commendable soever these Actions may seem to be they are deeply polluted in the Judgment that God will make of them and are peculiar to none but the worse Sort of Men. Thirdly If the many particular Obligations which are laid upon them be not look'd into If they are no more taken notice of than if they belong'd not at all unto them If the Knowledge which they have and the greater Capacities with which they are endow'd have no better Effect than the Ignorance and weak Abilities of the meaner sort If signal Mercies received make no Impressions of Gratitude upon them If peculiar Motions and strong Inclinations from God's Holy Spirit to such and such Duties be not complied with Though all their Behaviour in the sight of Men be fair and innocent yet I cannot say that their Spot is the Spot of God's Children For although we are apt to think that Sin consists only in doing those Vnrighteous Deeds which would be discernably bad in every one yet I suppose that those Actions which would save some Men of a Low Rank and Mean Capacities would not be acceptable unto God in some other Men were they not improved in good sort according to those Measures of Knowledge and Abilities which God hath given them And in the way of Life the same fairness of Converse shall not be alike innocent to many But these shall be defective and unrewardable in the sight of Him who is the Judge of the Earth and will judge Righteous Judgment while the others shall be commendable and accepted I may give you this familiar Instance If some Real Objects of Charity shall offer themselves unto Two Men the One of a Mean Estate and the Other of a very Great One and these Two in the constant Tenor of their Lives should do thus viz. The Meaner according to his Abilities supply the Indigences of the Miserable the Other give also not according to his Abundance but just as the Meaner Person hath done you would Theophilus pronounce the former to be charitable and good but not so the later Just so greater Capacities and Endowments larger Assistances especial Favours and peculiar Engagements to higher Degrees of Duty will be look'd upon by the All-wise God to be as it were a larger Spiritual Estate which such or such a Man possesseth If then with all this he shall do no more than just so much as ordinary Men whose Abilities are much less Engagements much fewer and Mercies less signal as you rightly condemned the Uncharitable Rich Man in those Instances which were open to your view so we shall not think amiss if we conceive that the Just God will not be pleased with This Man who in his Eye that seeth the Heart standeth not in unlike Circumstances with the Other For to whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required and we have no reason to doubt but He who hath received much and returns but little will be hardly more if at all more excusable than He who hath received little and returns nothing Thus may it be in the ordinary seeming innocent Lives and Converse of Men amongst one another A Pollution there may be when yet we cannot discern it and when we are bound to judge according to the best appearance it being no more than Justice and ordinary Charity to interpret things well whenever we see nothing of ill And from what hath been said Theophilus the Case in those things which are acknowledg'd by all to be Sins will be Evident That Sin may be a Pardonable Sin in one Man when the very same to the Sight and Opinion of Men will not be so in another If the Man hath had close and Earnest Warnings of his Conscience before if there hath been as it were a Voice behind him saying This is the way walk in it if the Motions of God's Spirit have more vigorously acted his Soul if his Mercies have pointed directly to what he ought to do And notwithstanding all these things which are discernable only to God and himself he shall commit the Sin The Sin though the same in the common repute of Men with what another committeth shall yet be a much deeper Stain to This Man than to That it would have been Theoph. But Eubulus there are very heinous Sins of some more than ordinary Good Men registred in Sacred Scripture As the Adultery and Murther committed by David The Denial of Christ by Peter as also the grievous Cursing and Swearing which he together with that his Crime was guilty of I pray you what are we to think of these Sins and what would you reply to those unhappy Inferences which too many Men are apt to make therefrom As for Example they will say First That none of the Sins which they indulge themselves in are so great as David's and Peter's were and so they have reason to be confident that their own Sins are not the Sins of wicked Men. Secondly That the same Sins in full as aggravating Circumstances in God's Children as in others will yet not be look'd upon as so great Pollution in them as in those others and this merely upon the account that they are his Children For Numb 23.21 God hath not beheld Iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seen Perverseness in Israel And so if they can persuade themselves that they are the Children of God which many times they easily can do how great soever their Sins already be or at any time hereafter shall be yet their Spot they 'll think will not be more than the Spot of good Men. Eubul It is observed of some that they are more skilful in the Failings of their Governours than in their Virtues or in their own Obedience And after the same manner may we say of these They are better versed in the Faults of good Men in Holy Writ than in their Virtues and Graces or in that Obedience which themselves owe unto God. In relation therefore to those Sins of good
Theoph. You rightly say what the word Law imports as spoken by our Psalmist God's Will being written at that time no further than as it made up the Jewish Oeconomy As it hath been manifested since it hath relation to Men in a far wider sense wheresoever planted upon the Face of the Earth Yea even those Laws of Moses which are retained in the Evangelical Dispensation cease to bind as they were given by Moses and are Obligatory now from another Lawgiver Jesus Christ But yet still they are to be acknowledged God's Laws and we may even now use these words O how I love thy Law Therefore Eubulus I desire you will shew me these things 1. What the Inducements were to this so great Love in David and other holy Men of old to the Divine Laws 2. What the Inducements are which we Christians have to love them Eubul I see Theophilus the greater share of Discourse must lie upon me but you will have it so and to my power I will obey you As to the Inducements which David and other holy Men of old had to love the Divine Laws they seem to me to arise partly from its pleasing God to give those Laws and partly from the Excellency of the Laws themselves In relation to the former I must confess that the Nature of Men seemeth necessarily to require that Laws should be given unto them For it would have been highly irrational on Mens part not to acknowledge Him as their Lord who gave them a Being and it would be a very great Dishonour unto God should we think that They whom he had made a little lower than the Angels should be left unregarded and lawless But yet when Men had fallen from their Obedience and had in great measure sullied that Law which was imprest on their Natures it was certainly a very great Favour that God in stead of throwing upon them deserved Punishments should chuse a Numerous People to be his Peculiar and should himself repair that Law thus obliterated within by writing it in Tables that it might be discern'd by the Eye Consider Theophilus the Greatness of Him who gives this Law how he needs not the Services of any Creature and also the Ingratitude of Man how he disobeyed the most righteous Law in Paradise where all the Love and Observance which possibly he could shew would not have been too much Consider this I say and the Law if it carry but any favour along with it may certainly for the sake of Him who gave it be justly esteemed and loved Neither is the Time wherein it pleased God to give these Laws unworthy of our Notice So much was the Welfare of Mankind esteemed to depend upon the Writing of Laws that many Nations in after Ages contended for the Dignity of being the first Authors thereof And Greece especially among the Priviledges which she boasts to have held forth to the rest of the World reckons this as one of the the chief But the Honour of having the first Written Laws belongs to the Hebrews alone in comparison of whom as Josephus against Apion proveth the Grecian Legislators were but of yesterday and this Honour is much heightned by God's owning the immediate Relation of a King unto them while he wrote these Laws Now the Benefit of Laws and the Glory of having These given so early and by such an Hand being well understood and rightly valued by our Psalmist who himself was a Ruler and a King might well engage his Love to them Theoph. I acknowledge the Inducement from God's thus giving the Law to be a very fair one Pray Eubulus go on to the other you mentioned viz. The Excellency of the Laws themselves Eubulus Take it in that pious King 's own words Psal 19. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul The Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statuts of the Lord are righteous rejoycing the Heart The Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes The Fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than Honey and the Honey-Comb Moreover by them is thy Servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Theoph. This is a very high Character indeed of those Laws if there be as I doubt not but there is Truth in the whole Eubul There is Truth in every tittle And this will appear if we shall look upon the Laws which require Duties to Him who is the Lawgiver or to Those from one to another or to Themselves whom these Laws are given unto Pray tell me Theophilus what would you in Right Reason and according to a perfect Harmony of Things have the Duties towards a Prince and Lawgiver to be Theoph. I would desire they should be Fear Love and Gratitude and these shewn upon Grounds every way good There being nothing more comely than that Subjects should be with-held from offending by Fear moved to all Obedience by Love and excited to Acknowledgments of Benefits and Protection by Gratitude More than These I mention not because to These all others I suppose may be reduced and are in effect no other than Expressions of them Eubul All these you shall find to be according to your Wish Your first Duty of Fear is in Deut. 6.13 as also in sundry places more Thou shalt Fear the Lord thy God and serve Him and swear by his Name Their Fear is to be such as not to scare them from him but they are to approach unto him and to do him Service And for the deciding of Controversies and establishing of Truth they are to use his Name solemnly in an Oath And a right good Ground there is for such a Fear from the Power and Justice of God such as can and will inflict Punishments on them when they wilfully transgress and this to the utmost of their Deserts The Destruction of the Old World for its Impiety The Overwhelming of the Egyptians in the Red Sea The Earths opening her Mouth and swallowing up Corah Dathan and Abiram and numerous other Instances of the like Nature were hereof Testimonies sufficient So that this Law of Fearing God as a Prince and Lawgiver manifests itself to be built on a sure and lasting Foundation Your second Duty of Love is commanded Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength It is not to be a faint and an unconstant Love but one that is strong and will not fail For the Loving of God with all the Heart and Soul and Strength doth not only import the greatest vigour of Love but the greatest duration of it also It must not be towards him Now and anon quite off him but the greatest Length it must have as well as the greatest Heighth And the strong Inducements to this Duty were well known
from the Creation of the World which in the greatest Goodness was effected from the Continuance of God's Favour when Man had fallen and from the manifold Loving Kindnesses which he had shewed to his People in general and to Good Men in particular And therefore this good King could burst forth in earnest Exhortations to others O Love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the Faithful For your third Duty viz. Gratitude which you would have to be shewed to a Lawgiver are all those Injunctions and Incitements of Praising God which are scattered almost every where in the Holy Scriptures And no other Design had those Sacrifices which were unbloody than that Men should with Thankfulness acknowledge God as Supream 'T is said Levit. 7.12 If he offer it for a Thanksgiving as much as to say Thankfulness is to be offered unto God. And what more prevailing Motive could there be for the Obeying this Precept than that whatever was possessed was of God's Bounty It was He that gave unto the Israelites all that they look'd upon as their Wealth and Property And therefore they were to honour the Lord with their Substance and with the First-Fruits of their Increase That is They were in Gratitude to render back somthing of what he had bestowed upon them Not that he needs any thing of that which Men can return unto him but that their Thankfulness may be expressed in what manner they are able to do it And this their Gratitude might be the greater in that God secured his Gifts unto them by his Laws allotting to every Tribe its proper Portion and distributing that Portion amongst the Heads of particular Families That Discords at first might not hinder their Possessions and that Avarice and Ambition might not afterwards break into them For what was thus divided by Lot the Disposal of which was wholly from God was not to be alienated to other Tribes nor to other Families of the same Tribe The Property of the Land remained firm only the Use and Incomes of it might be sold for a season which yet might at any time be redeemed and if it were not redeemed it necessarily reverted to the ancient Owners at the Year of Jubile And hereupon Industry was encouraged and Peace established and they sate under their in a most proper sense Own Vines and Fig-trees none making them afraid Nay God had not only bestowed upon the Seed of Jacob all that they enjoyed but even They themselves were also wholly from Him. In Kindnesses from Men the Man is supposed to have a Being before And that we are Men and have an understanding Soul is not properly the Gift of any Man to us But God hath as I may so speak given us Ourselves as well as other things and so our Gratitude to Him is to be so much higher than to others by how much Life and Being are better than Possessions Yea by how much what we enjoy are more his Gifts unto us than they can be the Gifts of any others For the Propriety of them is for ever his and his Providence will never part with the Guidance and Direction of them And therefore though others should give them us it is his Bounty through their Hands How then might Those in the Judaick State love the Laws which have immediate Relation to God as a Lawgiver How full of Reason are they Is there not the greatest Beauty in them Which could it be discern'd by our outward Eyes who is it could see and not love them And surely what appears truly beautiful to the Eye of the Soul i. e. to clear and deliberate Thoughts will call no less for love but much more Intellectual Beauty being much to be preferr'd before that which is Sensible And if I may once more Paraphrase this Expression of the Psalmist O how I love thy Law Methinks it implyeth thus much Nothing in the World is there that shall hinder me from loving it I prefer it before all other things however esteemed they be by Men. Were it left to my choice whether I would have any of these Laws repealed or whether I would fear love and be grateful unto God or not though no Punishments should be inflicted if I did not do it there should not be one Law the less for my Duty towards my God and Lawgiver Nor should any thing how pleasant or advantageous soever it be buy off my Observance of his Laws So dear is their Practice and so delightful their Speculation to me Theoph. I see and acknowledge the Excellence of these Laws and do really think them worthy the high Character which this Royal Person gave and the great Love which he expressed to them But Eubulus of those Laws which in their Observance had relation to God immediately Some were such as might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather E. G. The shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision of Beasts in Sacrifice Others though not Cruel might yet seem to proceed and are by many thought so to do from the Will of God as Supream without any discernible Reason for their being enjoyn'd and consequently without any Love to his Creatures For what Love can be seen there where no Reason can be assigned why such and such things are commanded or forbidden And who is it then that can love such Laws Of this sort were those that forbad the wearing of Linnen and Woollen in the same Garment The Ploughing with an Ox and an Ass together And the use of such and such Creatures for Food and others not unlike unto these And then further The Laws that require Fear are such as are enforced upon the account that God is Terrible And where so great Terribleness is at the bottom of these Laws how could they be so much loved For as the Apostle saith Perfect Love casteth out Fear And where Laws do require so much Fear the Love to them must needs be the less Pray Eubulus tell me Are these to be excepted from our Psalmist's Love Or if not how can it be truly said he loved them Eubul For the satisfying of you in these things and first for your first Objection to wit That of those Laws which in their Observance had relation unto God immediately some might seem to have no real Goodness in them but Cruelty rather as the shedding so much Blood of Men in Circumcision and of Beasts in Sacrifice it will not I suppose be unmeet that these things be considered 1. That the Law which hath so much love here expressed to it is as I before hinted to be understood of the Moral Law chiefly For this hath a real and intrinsick Goodness in it It is just and good that God as he is our God and Lawgiver should be feared loved and have Gratitude shew'd to him 2. As to those other Laws of Circumcision and Sacrifices though in themselves considered they are not Morally good yet considered with relation to all the good